Ancient Religions Essay Example for Free

Ancient Religions Essay The ancient Norse religion was commonly followed and practiced by people in northern regions of the world, such as Scandinavia, Norway, Iceland and surrounding countries. It was believed that the world first came about when a northern and southern land, Niflheim and Muspellheim, both joined together. Niflheim (house of mists) , an extremely cold, icy land and Muspellheim (home of desolation) the seemingly opposite of Niflheim, a hot, fiery land. As both lands joined together, the reaction of the contrasting temperatures caused the ice of Niflheim to melt creating the first two living creatures Ymer, the giant and Audhumla, a female cow. From these two the first Gods were created (Odin, Vile and Ve), and from them the first human beings were created by Odin from an elm and ash tree. Due to a disagreeance between Ymer and the God’s, the giant was killed and from his body, landforms and other living races were created. The gods were revered by many as they were the creators of the races and established the different parts of the world, the world tree or Yggdrasil included. The Yggdrasil is one of the principal beliefs in Nordic religion as it was known as the centre of their nordic universe, the world tree was said to have held nine different realms within its branches. The realms were situated in different areas of the tree at the top, within the canopy; Asgard (heaven) was located. This is where many gods lived including Odin in Valhalla. In addition to Asgard two other realms Vanaheim (home of the fertility god) and Aflheim (home of light elves) were located at the highest level of the world tree. These realms were known as â€Å"divine†. Norse folk believed that Midgard, the middle section of Yggdrasil held the human world. Along with midgard, Nidavellir, Jotunheim and Svartalfhiem, home of the dwarves, giants and dark elves were also present here. At the third and bottom level of the tree the two lands that created the first living beings are found. It is believed that Hel, the place of death, is part of the harsh, destitute lands of Niflheim. Hel is connected to one of the three main root of the world tree and it is known as the underworld, the second root leads to Jotunheim( realm of the giants) and the third is connected to the divine realm, Asgard. The roots linked together the different levels and realms of the tree, likewise Bifrost, a magical bridge located between Asgard and the human world, Midgard was another connection between realms, allowing gods an entrance into the mortal world. The Influence of the Nordic beliefs in society was great as followers of the ancient religion could identify with the extreme life conditions and harsh weather that was also portrayed in the Nordic creation story. The Norse saw their conditions of life as a blessing from the gods and often used these gifts to the greatest advantage for example men often became farmers, cultivators, tradesmen or traders. Women in Nordic society also searched for meaning and insight from the gods as they held powerful positions in the religion. Women played a strong part in the community and often had to run the villages when the Viking warriors were away. The Norse strived to maintain a balanced lifestyle from the influence of what they had learned and incorporated from the gods. Odin was known as a wise and great warrior and many Viking men chose to follow the same path by becoming a warrior also. I was believed that one of the only worthy ways to die was to die in battle. This factor greatly contributed to the decisions of the Norse men. When a warrior died in battle he would go on to Valhalla, in the divine realm, if not they would go to Hel. The Norse people not only sought meaning from the gods, but from the actions and rituals they performed.

Alternative Recycling Materials For Bricks Production Construction Essay

Alternative Recycling Materials For Bricks Production Construction Essay 2.1 Introduction In this chapter, it will discuss and study into the commonly used which is conventional and traditional materials for bricks production in current construction industry, as according to Thomas (1996), currently in over the world, there got multiple types of choice in bricks manufactured from wide range of material, but yet in western world, bricks are usually produced by these common material such as fired clay, calcium silicate which known as sand lime and flint lime or concrete. Hence 3 types of commonly traditional material in term of properties and details will be highlighted in this chapter which is calcium silicate bricks, concrete bricks and clay bricks. Moreover, this chapter will also further discuss and look into several types of recycling materials which is potential for bricks production such as bottom ash and fly ash, recycled fine aggregates and sea sand and etc. In accordance to that, comparison in all aspect between the traditional and alternative recycling materials used to produce bricks will be discuss and describe in order to find out the difference in between their characteristic. 2.2 Conventional and traditional materials for bricks production 2.2.1 Clay Bricks According to Yvonne (1996), she mentioned that these clay bricks are consider as one and only most efficient materials which has been widely used in terms of their energy consumption. Clay brick can be consider as the one of the type that are most commonly used bricks and application by contractors in construction industry nowadays, in Malaysia construction these type of clay bricks in term of usage and application has to be refer to BS 3921:1895. By referring regard with BS 3921:1895, the work size dimension of clay brick had been set to 215102.5x65mm while coordination size is 225112.5x75mm, work size is consider as the actual size of brick that should conform within specified permissible deviation while coordination size provide the meaning of the size of coordinating space allocated and specified to a brick including allowances for joints and tolerances (Horng 2010). Clay bricks are mainly produced from the natural material which is fired clay that consist a wide range of different colour and textures. They can be manufactured in many different shapes, sizes and strengths, in fact in term of properties such as water absorption, suction rate and compressive strength also can be control and produce. These properties are determined mainly by the kiln, method of forming the bricks in specific shape whether by manually moulding or extrusion and also type of clay used (Thomas 1996). Basically there are three varieties of clay bricks available which are Common bricks, Facing bricks and Engineering bricks. According to Taylor (1994), common bricks are ordinary bricks which have no special claim and design to give an attractive good finished appearance and high strength, which in fact in general also consider as the cheapest bricks available. While for facing bricks are specially designed and made to give an attractive appearance which was free from imper fection that require extra rendering or plaster to the surface such as cracks. Whereas engineering bricks was consist the most highest density and well fire which are designed primarily with strong vitreous body for strength and durability, due to the more complicated process to produce these bricks hence it price also cost higher than the other types. Figure 2.1: Common bricks Common Brick Product Code: Mbc2002Common Brick Product Code: Mbc2011Common Brick Product Code: Mbc2024Source: The Matching Brick Company (1991) , viewed 15 July 2012, Figure 2.2: Facing bricks Stock Facing Brick Product Code: Mbc4006Waterstruck Facing Brick Product Code: Mbc5001Waterstruck Facing Brick Product Code: Mbc5016Source: The Matching Brick Company (1991), viewed 15 July 2012, Figure 2.3: Engineering bricks Engineering Brick Product Code: Mbc1001 Engineering Brick Product Code: Mbc1002 Engineering Brick Product Code: Mbc1008Source: The Matching Brick Company (1991), viewed 15 July 2012, Manufacturing technique for the production of clay bricks have been evolving from initially which is by hand moulded processes to modern mechanization. At present according to Bas (1999), brick productions consist of five basic stages that can be found and allocate everywhere around the world, each of the operations are interdependent and brick will follow through these stages in a way designed specifically to suit raw material used and the final product. Figure 2.4 illustrate the main stages in clay brick manufacture. Figure 2.4 General flow of materials in brick production Source: (Bas 1999, p. 5) As show in Figure 2.4, the first stage is clay preparation, during this stage when clay are being digging out, it is prepare by crushing and mixing until uniform consistency and in order to make clay suitable for brick making, it must be mixed with water so that to increase plasticity, before it is transfer toward brick moulding machine, few day resting and left alone is necessary. Bricks moulding technique is designed to suit the moisture content of clay, bricks can either be moulding through hand or machine, normally the usually used method used to increase moisture content as stated by Taylor (1994) are semi-dry process, stiff plastic process, wire cut process and soft mud process. After moulding, the brick will undergo the second stages which is Drying stages, it is carried out to let the humidity or moisture content inside the bricks to run free or escape in order to prevent the wet brick cracks inside when temperature is rapidly increase during fire, in fact the process also en ables and assist the firing temperature rises and increased smoothly without problem such gases and vapour are trapped within the bricks that are namely Bloating. Then following stage is pre-heating where the bricks are heated constantly but slowly mainly to avoid cracking, during the firing stages, the purpose is to let the brick increase in strength and decrease the soluble salt content by ensure localized melting sintering of the clay, there are 4 main processes which are clamps, continuous kilns and tunnel kilns. The last stage which is cooling stages, the bricks are stack and cooled down in kiln after fired, this stages is necessary because bricks can result in crack inside which will indirectly cause loss of strength when temperature is rapid rise and then rapidly cool down. According to Richard and Kreh (1990), all properties of structural clay product such as brick are affected by the composition of the raw material use and the manufacturing process. The important properties are strength, durability, colour, texture and absorption. In fact, each brick used in construction are required to be tested first before proceed to the next stage in masonry construction. Sadek and Roslan (2011) stated that compressive strength of brick is important as an indicator of masonry strength and indirectly brick strength become an important requirement in brickwork design. Strength is known as resistance of brick needed to increase in term of load when stress constantly appeared on it before it breaks. For the properties of durability of clay brick is much more likely to be a problem than its strength since in most situation, clay bricks are very much stronger than is required structurally (Taylor 1994). Colour and finished of the clay brick are determine by the chemical composition of natural clay and mineral which added to the natural clay, another factor that influences or affect it colour is depends on how well the temperature during firing being control in kiln clay burned period (Richard and Kreh 1990). Whereas for texture properties in bricks, it is the arrangement of particles of raw materials in brick such as hard and smooth finish should had fine f inish or texture, normally many textures can be achieve or obtained during the stiff mud process. Lastly for absorption, it may be an important property of clay bricks, since bricks that have very low absorption are invariably of high durability, Richard and Kreh (1990) argues that the water content of bricks must be correct to obtain the best result from combining of brick and mortar to form a wall. It is frequently ignored and forgot in construction which indirectly cause the strength and durability of the wall are affected. According to William (2001) Fire Bricks which is also one of the clay mould bricks which using the refractory clay to produce is consider as a special bricks which can withstand and resist much more higher of heat and temperature. The bricks are mainly application for builder to construct lining chimney shafts, boilers and kilns or for those work activities or building which require excessive resistance toward heat. Eeydzah (2010) mentioned that even though these bricks are much weaker, but compare to other the advantage is much lighter, easier to form and produce and also insulation properties is way much better than dense bricks. 2.2.2 Concrete Bricks According to Hafiz (2010), the concrete bricks are usually and one of the most used in the construction industry as wall panel and partially drains. Concrete brick are produced from a controlled mixture of Portland cement and aggregates in sizes, colours, and proportions which are similar to clay bricks that can be served as a purpose of loadbearing or non load bearing (Beall 1993). Normally these concrete bricks production need to fulfill and comply with all the appropriate requirements as stated in BS6073: Part 2 1981 specification for precast concrete masonry unit (Thomas 1996). Horng (2010) stated that the concrete is hardened by conventional water curing process or special compression method whereas BS 1180 mentioned that the minimum requirements and the classification of these types of bricks are common with sand-lime bricks. William (2001) stated there have another type of concrete brick which is different in term of material of production, instead of cement and sand, it is actually made with cement and furnace clinker or fly ash. These bricks are built into various positions in walling mainly to help and allow those especially internal housing decoration such as picture rails, skirting, serving hatches and door frame can be secured by using nailing and nailed into them. Normally the natural colour of concrete bricks are cement colour which is greyish, but nowadays pigments are allowable which then give a range of colour such as of brown and reds are produced (Yvonne 1996). Taylor (1994) also mentioned that concrete bricks BS 6073 are relatively one of the concrete brick that are recently introduced, these bricks are comprising well compacted, low workability concrete mixes of appropriate aggregates size, leading to products of high strength and durability. In fact the properties such as colour and textures can be control which can give a final appearance very similar to clay bricks, and are most important are it is free from efflorescence but due to different movement characteristic, these type of bricks are suggested not to bond with other brick types as it will affect their structural strength and dulability. 2.2.3 Calcium Silicate (Sand-Lime) Bricks According to Taylor (1994), these bricks are made by combine and blending the finely ground sand or flint and lime together uniformly in the approximate ratio of 10:1. After that the semi dry mixture is then pressed into mould in shape and cured in an autoclave for two or three hour to speed the chemical hardening. The finished of these bricks are quite natural and uniform, the colour of the bricks is darker when wet than when dry. Thomas (1996) specified that all these bricks requirements are required to comply to BS 187:1978. Beall (1993) defines that calcium silicate brick are the most widely and extensively used by contractors in industrialized countries such as Europe, Russia, Australia and United States, the main reason is because the suitable siliceous sands are more readily available compare to clay in their country, in fact it has been broadly manufactured and produces in United States in the early year of 1900s. Taylor (1994) stated that the main properties of calcium silicate bricks are: A high degree of regularity, with a choice of surface texture ranging from smooth to rustic. A wide range of colour as pigment can be added which then available to produced various type of colour Very low soluble salt content, hence is fine with efflorescence Relatively higher moisture movement compare to other bricks Compressive strength with range 7-50 N/mm2 (BS187) Good overall durability in clean atmosphere, but they may deteriorate slowly in polluted sulphur containing atmosphere. 2.3 Recycling materials for bricks production 2.3.1 Bottom ash and fly ash According to Safiuddin (2010), Fly ash (FA) and bottom ash (BA) are produces as a by-product from municipal solid waste incinerators and coal fuelled power stations, it is a highly dispersible powder which contain mainly aluminosilicare and derriferrous glassy spherical particle and irregularly shaped grains of amorphous clay, mullite quartz and unburned metamorphic fuel whereas BA consists of irregular particles that can be add up to 10-15mm in size. The chemical compositions of both ashes from same power plant are similar. Fly ash which obtained from coal combustion is frequently used in add into concrete due to cost saving by substitute the material of portland cement, the pozzolanic properties of fly ash can improve the strength of concrete which can be found during curing at 38 Degree Celsius that it greatly accelerates its contribution to the strength of concrete (Orchard 1979). Lingling, Wei, Tao and Nanru (2005) found out that fly ash can actually improves the compressive strength of bricks and increase their resistant toward frost attack whereas Cicek and Tanriverdi (2007) also realized the positive effect of fly ash on the compressive strength of bricks during his studies research. According to Kumar (2002), he clearly stated that sufficient strength which comply to the minimum requirement of bricks can be achieve in produce brick by using these fly ash hence it have potential to use as substitute of conventional clay bricks and blocks. Naganathan et al (2012) also defined that the strength of bricks increase with the increase in fly ash, in fact he conclude that bricks of good quality can be made by using bottom ash and fly ash whereby contributing to sustainable building. Figure 2.5 clearly illustrate that the evidence and application of both of fly ash and bottom ash in real construction, from here we tend to believe that both fly ash and bottom ash since years ago already is one of the waste materials that can be trusted and widely apply by other country to recycled and apply back to construction to produce various type of material such as bricks. Figure 2.5: Application of waste material in real construction. Souce : (Safiudin 2010, p. 1960) According to Naganathan (2012), there got a lot of advantages of using bottom ash and fly ash in brick making, mainly can consuming large volume of waste which then indirectly reduced the environmental problem which cause by dumping these waste in landfill and ash pond, moreover it also help enhance the properties and performance of bricks, in fact it do contribute to sustainable development and assist developers to get green building index points. 2.3.2 Recycled fine aggregates According to Ismail and Yaacob (2010), the initially and inventive use of recycled fine aggregates began and start at the end of World war II during the time when the nation of European fed problem in rubble material disposal. Which then the RILEM Technical Committee take an important steps of publishing in promoting the recycling aggregates which finally end up followed by several number of researchers around the world. In the studies research of Ismail and Yaacob (2010), it stated that brick dimension is influenced by material content and the density of constituent materials, their study focus on average brick dimension which was calculate and evaluated from 10 samples each group regarding length, width, depth, area and volume. Figure 2.6 show the summarized of average brick dimension and clearly stated and summarized that bricks with recycled fine aggregates had an uniform size and surface area similar to bricks with conventional materials. Figure 2.6 The dimensions of brick specimens Source : (Ismail and Yaacob 2010, p. 880) 2.3.2.2 Brick Density The density of brick specimen was calculated by dividing the weight with volume. In figure 2.7 stated that the density of control bricks was 2032.3 kg/m3 which mean the result of the density for brick content 50% recycled fine aggregate slightly increase 1.7% if compared with control brick. Conclusion in the figure show average density of brick by using recycled fine aggregates are much lower compare to control brick, even the most lower can be observed in brick with 100% content of recycled aggregates which reduce 3.5 % ( Ismail and Yaacob 2010). Figure 2.7 The average density of bricks with recycled fine aggregates Source : (Ismail and Yaacob 2010, p. 880) 2.3.2.3 Compressive strength The compressive strength of a material determines its load carrying capacity before stress apply on it and become failure. British Standard Institution states that the compressive of bricks should not be less than 7N/mm2 (Ismail and Yaacob 2010). The figure 2.8 illustrated the detailed result of compressive strength of all bricks types Figure 2.8 The average compressive strength of bricks with recycled fine aggregate Source : (Ismail and Yaacob 2010, p. 881) It can be seen from the figure, the result of compression strength of control brick is 12.32N/mm2 which mean the overall finding reveal that with additional of recycled fine aggregate can instantly increase the compressive strength. In the report, (Ismail and Yaacob) conclude that based on the test result, the bricks produced with recycled fine aggregates show positive result in each test and some even similar to brick with conventional natural material hence overall it can be utilized in brick mixture as good substitute for natural sand. 2.3.3 Sea Sand According to Hafiz (2010), use of river sand in Malaysia is very widespread in construction industry, in order to protect the environment of river and prevent erosion or flooding, seas sand are suggested to be one of the substitutions to replace river sand. The composition of sand varies from place to place depends in the sources and condition of the local rocks. Sand is classified as a unique raw material for construction industry due to allocation for obtaining bulk loads of sand for construction work. Sea sand has become a potential resource yet also consider as waste material which are capable to supply fine aggregates for domestic construction usage, in accordance to that, applications of sea sand is more economic by using river sand. Sea sand mostly contain more content of salinity or sodium chloride which may directly cause or affected the durability of structural if being ignored and without treated which then result in swilling, precipitation, sulfating and other adverse consequences. Hence precautions must be taken to eliminate to avoid unwanted hazard (Hafiz 2010). Rahman (2010) argues found out that sea sand contains significant à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“impuritiesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  such as magnesium and sodium chlorides which lead to corrosion in iron, in fact in past research, sea sand is considered unsuitable for construction industry because of its small size and unless the chloride content that caused rusting is extract or reduced. 2.3.3.1 Sieve Analysis Sea Sand The sieve analysis of sea sand is to determine the gradation of sea sand such as the distribution of aggregates particles, by size within a given sample. There are many types of sieves depends on different sieve size. The figure 2.9 show the analysis of sea sand that use as concrete aggregate. Figure 2.9 Average Granulometric Curve of typical sea sand used as concrete Source: (Hafiz 2010, p. 8) The figure show that percentage of passing sea sand to get 100% on sieve analysis and sieve size is quicker than other material. This happen due to sea sand is a fine aggregate that less retain in sieve size. As a basic material in brick mixture, a classification of aggregate is very important as it will affect the strength of brick, the advantages of this process ensure the size of apertures decrease in logarithmic fashion. 2.5 Summary During current situation, enormous quantities of domestic, industrial and construction waste are generated annually throughout the country, instead disposing all of them, this research and chapter is actually give an further detail and look into several types of potential recycling material which able to used as substitution or replacement of natural resources in brick productions. After go through this chapter, it can be noticed that even though many alternative potential recycling waste solid has been introduced but yet the awareness of public toward scarcity of natural resources is still very low, it proved by most of the traditional material such clay brick, calcium silicate bricks and concrete bricks are still among the favourite choices of construction industry, bulk by bulk quantities of these material are being produced which indirectly caused depletion of related natural resources. This chapter not only showed many advantages such as avoid negative impact toward environment by using the recycling waste solid to produce bricks instead of dumping them in open fields,in fact it also prove that the result and properties of brick manufactured by recycling material is comparative, some even prove more better in term of economic and strength, so why still hesitate on the choice ?

Thalassemia Disease Hemoglobin

Thalassemia Disease Hemoglobin Thalassemia What is Thalassemia and what does it do? Thalassemia is a disease first discovered by Dr. Thomas B. Cooley in 1925. Its an inherited genetic disorder that causes our bodies to produce fewer healthy red blood cells and hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is a substance in red blood cells that carries oxygen all throughout our bodies. It also carries two chains called alpha globin chains and beta globin chains. Alpha globin chains are made with four genes. Alpha Thalassemia happens when two to four of those genes are missing. It can cause serious damage. Beta Globin chains are made with two genes and when one of the genes are also missing or changed, Beta Thalassemia occurs. Red blood cells will not perform properly when these chains are missing or altered. When red blood cells cant perform tasks and work, they die and your body doesnt function correctly, leading to serious consequences. Thalassemia can be diagnosed by taking blood tests, special hemoglobin tests, or having a complete blood count, otherwise known as CBC. CBC tests are used to provide information about the amount of hemoglobin and the different kinds of blood cells in a sample. Hemoglobin tests are used to measure the types of hemoglobin in a sample. It is usually diagnosed in early childhood due to the fact that signs and symptoms of this disease appear in the first two years of a humans life. Doctors also do tests on the amount of iron in the blood to find out if the Thalassemia occurred because of iron deficiency. Since Thalassemia is an inherited disorder, a simple way to diagnose it would be to conduct family genetic studies. This helps by looking at the history of family traits, similar to a pedigree. There are ways to tell if a person has Thalassemia. Symptoms can include slowed growth and delayed puberty in children and teens. Bone problems can make the bones become wider than normal because of expanding bone marrow, more fragile, and easy to break. These bone problems occur mainly in the face. More signs of Thalassemia can be an enlarged spleen. People with Thalassemia have hard-working spleens. In some cases when a spleen becomes too large, it must be removed. The heart and liver might grow bigger as well. Some peoples appearance becomes pale and listless. They lose their appetites, have dark urine, and get jaundice as a result of Thalassemia. They might also feel tired and drowsy. Carriers of Thalassemia often show no signs of the disease. Unfortunately, because Thalassemia is passed on from parents to offspring, it cannot be prevented, however, it can be treated. Treatments for Thalassemia include Blood Transfusions, Iron Chelation Therapy, Folic Acid Supplements, Blood and Marrow Stem Cell Transplant, as well as treatments that researchers are still conducting experiments on. When given a blood transfusion, the patient receives new healthy red blood cells and more hemoglobin through a needle being inserted into their vein. Iron Chelation Therapy is needed and used to remove excess iron from the body using two medicines, Deferoxamine and Deferasirox. Deferoxamine is a liquid given under the skin with a pump, and Deferasirox is a pill that is taken daily for patients with Thalassemia. Both may cause side effects such as loss of hearing and vision, headaches, nausea, joint pain, fatigue, vomiting, and diarrhea. Thalassemia does not affect a person based on gender, but it is more common in some nationalities more than in others. For example, Alpha Thalassemia mostly occurs in people of the Southeast Asian, Indian Chinese, or Filipino origin, while Beta Thalassemia mainly occurs in people of the Mediterranean, Asian, or African origin. Even though it is more common in these nationalities, it does not mean that others are not at risk. It affects all people. People who live Thalassemia today go through daily treatments including taking folic acid supplements. Many people have been cured and blood screening have lowered the amount of infections in blood transfusions. Also new treatments are becoming available, and making it easier for people with this disease to take them. People who have Thalassemia are recommended to always wash their hands, avoid crowds during cold and flu season, keep skin around blood transfusion areas very clean, and to contact their doctors if a fever occurs.

Charles Lindbergh Biography :: Essays Papers

Charles Lindbergh Biography My biography is on Charles Augustus Lindbergh. He is most famous for his nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. In the next paragraph I will be telling you about some of the things that he is famous for. His life is more interesting than most people think. If anything I would say that he is the most famous pilot in the world, or at least he should be. Charles was a pilot, inverter, and an environmentalist. He was born on February forth of nineteen o two in Detroit Michigan. His father was a Minnesota congressman. He studied mechanical engineering for two years at the university of Wisconsin and left in nineteen twenty-two to enroll in flight school. In nineteen twenty-three he bought a war surplus training plane and worked as a barnstormer and as a traveling stunt flier. In nineteen twenty-five he completed army flight training. After flight school he worked as an airmail pilot, only to become the chief pilot for the route between St. Louis to Chicago. In nineteen twenty-nine he married Anne Morrow. The daughter of the United States ambassador to Mexico, Dwight Morrow. Some of Charles Lindbergh's achievements are the following. His most famous achievement was in nineteen twenty-seven, when he made the worlds first nonstop, solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. One of his other famous achievements was in nineteen twenty-seven when he made an unprecedented nonstop solo flight from Washington D.C. to Mexico City. He is also famous for being a great pilot. The main reason that I picked Charles Lindbergh to do my biography on is because I was goofing around on the biography web site and I typed in my birthday and apparently Charles Lindbergh has the same birthday as me. Another reason that I picked Charles Lindbergh is because I like airplanes and since Charles Lindbergh was the most famous pilot of all time, I decided, ah what the heck.

Women in Tibet Essay -- Birth Abortion Rights Inferiority Papers

Women in Tibet Although Buddhism embraces compassion as the means to end suffering, the Chinese occupation of 1949 used force and torture to manipulate the Tibetan people, despite the country’s strong pacifist beliefs. Chinese troops aimed to imprison anyone who demonstrates support for the Dalai Lama and often looked for excuses to make public mockeries of these people. In order to implement this idea of genocide in Tibetan culture, China used the practice of ethnic cleansing, or eliminating the Tibetan race; therefore, women were highly stigmatized because of their role in bearing children. Treating the victims as insects, the Chinese forced sterilizations and abortions upon the Tibetan women to ensure their extermination. Continuing to ignore all regulations to treat women as equal to men and to practice safe methods of birth control, China still sterilizes Tibetan women today, leaving them not only with the scar of their surgery, but also a lifetime imprint of the pain and suffering that the Tibetan people have endured for over fifty years. Although so much time has passed since Chinese troops first occupied Tibet, people around the world are starting to realize the horror of this situation as organizations have begun to take action against this dehumanization of Tibetans so that the suffering of these people can finally be eased. Throughout history, women have been viewed as inferior to their male counterparts; however, although Tibet claims to issue women equal rights, the gender gap vastly surpasses the differences seen in America. Even today, Western and Tibetan women are not officially recognized by the Tibetan government in exile, even though the Dalai Lama recently advocated the full ordination of women (Young, ... ...omen of the Himalayas: a journey of the heart, mind and spirit. Colorado Woman News, 13(5), 28. Ma, N. (1999). Tibetan women endangered. America, 180(1), 8-10. Nelson, S. (1999). Buddhist nuns delight crowd. Women’s View from Ethnic and Minority Press, 12(3), 12. Pinto, S. (1999). Pregnancy and childbirth in Tibetan culture. In K.L. Tsomo (Ed.), Buddhist Women Across Cultures: Realizations (pp. 159-168). New York: State University of New York Press. (1994). Tibetan women denied their reproductive rights. Women Envision, 9, 12. (1995). We are using the Beijing process†¦to make our voices heard. The Tribune, 53, 8. (1996). The world is still watching. Herizons, 10(3), 13. Young, S. (2000). Women changing Tibet, activism changing women. In E.B. Findly (Ed.), Women’s Buddhism, Buddhism’s women (pp. 229-242). Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publication.

Was wasps intended as pure entertainment or was Aristophenes really serious about promoting political change?

The Wasps was written in 422BC by the above Greek Playwrite Aristophenes. It involves a father Procleon and a son Anticleon, the latter of which has a sole aim to keep his father locked up away from jury duty as he see's it as an injustice and a waste of the later stages of his life. The characters names relate to the Athenian politician Cleon, a contraversial but popular character at the time during the Peloponnesian War. Procleon is translated into Ancient Greek as â€Å"friend of Cleon† and Anticleon is translated as â€Å"hater of Cleon†. Cleon, when he was in power, trebled the wages of the Jurymen to give him a hold on the poorer classes, a move frowned upon by Aristophenes as he demonstrates in The Wasps by conducting a full arguement on how corrupt the courts are and how Jurymen have such little influence on the final outcome, that they are nothing more than state pawns. Aristophenes' dislike for Cleon was something of a class-based one as well. Rumours spread that Cleon was decended from a lower class background, and because of the amount of power and influence he held within Athenian politics, Aristophenes, being something of a rich snob at the time, didn't like this at all and had somewhat of a personal vendetta against him. Aristophenes wrote the play The Wasps for The Lenaia, an annual drama festival in honour of the Greek god, Dionysus. The Lenaia took place in Athens in the month of Gamelion which is roughly January. During the festival in Aristophenes' time, three plays were performed, most of them comedy as people would probably have been drinking wine at the time in honour of Dionysus. Ancient Greek Old Comedy was mainly based on current issues like politics, morals, philosophy and literature. From the surviving plays, historians have pointed out that many local people or politicians are involved as characters in Old Comedy and are impersonated and often mocked. Also, from the little evidence we have, Old Comedies seem to have a fixed structure consisting of an agon and two parabases. The Chorus had a very important role in Old Greek Comedy as well, as they established a strong link between the actors and the audience. Aristophenes was an Old Greek Comedy artist. We have eleven of his plays that are still readable and it is worth noting that a year before The Wasps was released, Aristophenes entered a play called Clouds which challenged many set ideas at the time, thus it being snubbed by the audience for being too political during the time of The Peloponnesian War. So the stage was set for Aristophenes to write a comeback comedy for The Lenaia whilst having a dig at Cleon, the question I will attempt to answer, is was Aristophenes's main aim to entertain the audience and bounce back from his earlier failure, or did Aristophenes actually have a personal vendetta, setting out an attack on Cleon to promote political change? The first thing I will examine is Clouds. The play was written a year before The Wasps, and shed a new light on Socrates's teachings. We do not know the exact reason why, but Aristophenes displayed Socrates in a very contraversial way, that he was poisoning the minds of the youth at the time with his teachings. This play was clearly written to promote political change, and although it was used as a key peice of evidence in his trial before Socrates was sentenced to death, it was unsuccessful when it was released. I believe that in this play, Aristophenes' main aim, was to kick up a fuss over nothing as he was jealous of the position of power that Socrates was in, because to cause less much less contraversy, Aristophenes could have easily wrote the play about someone less famous at the time. A year later, Aristophenes had made himself another enemy in a position of power as I mentioned earlier, Cleon. Like Clouds, he tried to write a play to start new contraversial ideas, but this time he had to emphasise the comedy rather than the political change, otherwise the audience wouldn't favour the play once more. Whether you look at Aristophenes as a coward or simply clever, he understood the concept which evolved around his time that, to quote Euripides â€Å"The tongue is mightier than the blade. † To bring down his foes and the people he disliked, rather than have them assasinated or start some kind of rebellion, putting his own neck on the line, he chose the much wiser option of insulting them in his plays infront of a mass audience. When in The Wasps, Procleon gets defeated in the arguement by Anticleon this is the clearest example that Aristophenes wants the audience to hate Cleon and to challenge his ideas. The chorus of the play are great fans of Cleon who they call â€Å"The Great Protector† after he trebled their pay, they show much loyalty to him, which is destroyed later on as they belive Anticleons arguement is much stronger than Procleons. Procleon arguements were that Jurors are pampered and feared individuals that defendants in legal cases are always trying to flatter them and soften them up. Also that Jurors have various perks of the job, they get to see theatrical or musical performances by famous litigants. He uses a quote â€Å"The power of Zeus upon his throne is scarcely greater than my own†, as many politicians â€Å"suck up† to them. Aristophenes displayed a flawed arguement here and left many holes for Anticleon to expose when he made his speech. Anticleons arguements were that the Jurors annual pay doesn't even amount to 10% of the annual income from the Athenian Empire. That even though it had been tripled, many powerful people were still earning a lot more as the Demagogues creamed off the rest, not to mention the bribes they had received. He also makes a good point that the jurors have fought for Athens in the Persian Wars and deserve a lot more than what they get from jury service, which is easily affordable by the Athenian government. The Chorus, against expectations, decided that Anticleon had won the arguement and Procleon condeded that his son was right so the â€Å"hater of Cleon† triumphed over the â€Å"friend of Cleon†. At the start of the play Xanthias tells us that Aristophenes isn't going to resort to standard jokes just to get a cheap laugh, and at the same time, contrary to any expectation we may have formed at this stage, we are told that the play won't be â€Å"making mincemeat† of Cleon either which shows that Aristophenes had learnt his lesson over using a gung-ho approach against someone he disliked like he did in â€Å"Knights†. But he does say â€Å"Some people have been saying that since Cleon tanned my hide, I've made a cowards peace with him and let my wrath subside†. This is to say that even though he is watering the play down he still hasn't let it effect what his plans are against Cleon, that he intends to come back at him with a vengeance. There is a lot of slapstick comedy in the play that the audience can relate to such as Procleon making mischief whilst drunk and trying to sneak away from Anticleon underneath a donkey (like Oddeyseus and the cyclops). But despite us having many laughs at the plays expense, it still has a moral behind it, the kind of moral that you can't teach an old dog new tricks. In relevance to Procleon, Anticleon changed him only for the worse as he caused a lot more menace once he started to disrespect the law after Anticleons speech. In conclusion I believe that Aristophenes wrote this play to promote political change but watered it down so the audience would favour it. He knew that the audience expected a play to entirely go all gung-ho on insulting Cleon and making many cheap jokes at his expense. Aristophenes has clearly learnt from his past mistake with Clouds and this time concentrated on the formation of the play but nevertheless as I mentioned earlier, â€Å"The tongue is mightier than the blade† and Aristophenes still uses the play against Cleon no matter how indirectly he does it. But he does make a valid point near the end, summing up his own views that taking into account the play contains views of his own, that even though politics is corrupt and unfair, if you disrespect it, you get into trouble, the very way that Procleon does in the end, similar to the way Aristophenes did when he was taken to court after his production of â€Å"Knights† for defamation. If I had more time I could have expanded on the question and answered why does Aristophenes have a vendetta against Cleon and Soccretes, is it because they hold more power than he does, or does he genuinly disagree with their points of view and teachings.

Lord of the Flies †Character Analysis: Piggy Essay

Examine the significance of the character Piggy in the novel â€Å"Lord of The Flies† consider his purpose, key role and relationship with the other boys at important points in the novel. To mimic men’s actions and lost of civility in times of war and need, William Golding, narrates a story in which all characters are boys, with the intention of taking the reader through the journey made by those who descend to savagery when facing certain conditions. This essay is going to explore and explain the symbolism behind one of the novel’s main characters and how his presence influences other characters’ actions and the way things turn out. Piggy is a Short and heavyset boy who wears spectacles and is disadvantaged by asthma. At first he appears to be a desperate childish boy by panicking over the rest of the world’s lack of information regarding his and the boys’ whereabouts, – while the others see this as an opportunity to be free and independent – which makes him seem like a dependable, desperate young boy. However, as the story unfolds we come to understand that his worrying at the beginning is related to his analytical way of thinking. And even though the other boys put him down due to his physical appearance, we come to learn how necessary he is on the island as a source of intelligence and insight. Due to his unfortunate looks and his nickname, the boys on the island refuse on sympathizing with Piggy and collectively make fun of him, making him an outcast – â€Å"The boys were a circle of sympathy with Piggy outside†. Bullied and brutalized by Jack, he maturely shields away the mocking and focuses on increasing their chances of being rescued and meanwhile living in an organized environment. However, as soon as his intellectual side starts to show, and his critical thinking becomes a crucial part in assembling a new community, – â€Å"I expect we’ll want to know all their names,† said the fat boy, â€Å"and make a list. We ought to have a meeting. † – he slowly begins being accepted. His clever ideas introduce important concepts to the rest of the boys. For example, the use of the conch: the power to speak and be heard given to whoever held it in hands. The way he thinks endears him especially to Ralph who starts to admire him. â€Å"Piggy rubbed his glasses slowly and thought. When he understood how far Ralph had gone towards accepting him he flushed pinkly with pride. †- Thankful for being accepted, Piggy shows loyalty and respect for Ralph. At a certain point, Ralph questions his leadership skills and compares himself to Piggy who stands up for him – â€Å"You said Ralph was chief and you don’t give him time to think. Then when he says something you rush off†. He protects Ralph and reminds the others that they all collectively chose him to be their leader. Once again, Piggy shows he hasn’t lost his values and instincts. Although he might not entirely fit in with the others, he manages to get his point across with Ralph’s help. His ideas frequently lead to innovation and his way of thinking is what gets them by the first stages of civilized survival. He represents democracy by presenting his ideals to the others and hoping to come to a mutual agreement on the way of executing things; and clings onto civility throughout the whole novel, by pointing out whenever one of the other boys take a step away from civilization. Underestimated by many at the beginning, Piggy’s role in the story carries a very important meaning and stands for great attributes found in men. The sensible understanding of reality shown by the character stands for the rational scientific side of civilization. His maturity differentiates him from the others – â€Å"With the martyred expression of a parent who has to keep up with the senseless ebullience of the children† – and becomes essential in avoiding savagery and barbaric behavior from the boys. His character is related to a great part of the symbolism used by Golding and has a very important role in preventing the descent from civilization to savagery, however, he sadly he witnesses the turnover. Piggy’s glasses represent many different ideas. The initial importance of the specs is that they represent the ability to make fire, which they hoped would provide the rescue they needed. Piggy’s glasses also signify Piggy’s ability to see literally and figuratively. Without them, he is helpless and blind. He is unable to serve as well as Ralph’s right-hand man and voice of logic. When Piggy is â€Å"blinded† it symbolizes the blindness of the Jack’s tribe to the evil to which they are succumbing. Piggy’s murder completes the boys’ lost of sight (figuratively speaking) and forces them into total darkness, which leads to the hunting of Ralph. When his glasses are broken and he tragically dies, so does what is left of order and civilization in the island. Of all the forms of symbolism present in the book, Piggy’s character carries a relation to many of them. To being with, his nickname isn’t only related to his physical structure, but it also suggests vulnerability, like the pigs on the island that rapidly become Jack’s targets. Another important symbolic element related to Piggy is the conch he and Ralph found at the start of the novel. They used it to call the boys and assemble them. After the conch is crashed along with his body, the boys divide themselves representing the loss of the civilized instinct once present in each and every boy. Piggy is significant in the novel not only because he is one of the main characters, but also because his purpose is directly related to the main theme of the story: civilization vs. savagery. Although he wasn’t able to make the concept of civilization permanent, he spends the whole novel trying to get his values across, and reminding the others of who they were and how they were expected to behave. His intelligence gives him the voice of sanity and reason.